Nuclear medicine diagnostic procedures have increasingly become more popular as a non-invasive means to examine a patient's internal organs, tissue or the like. Nuclear medicine generally encompasses a diagnostic procedure whereby a patient ingests a radioactive material which is then sensed by a radiation detector external of the patient. In such a manner, the radioactive material will provide a source of radiation such that the detector will be capable of mapping and/or imaging the radiation source in the patient's organs.
Different radioactive materials have been identified as being selective to different organs and/or tissues in a human body. Thus, a physician will typically select a particular radioactive material in dependence upon the organ and/or tissue for which diagnostic procedures are desired.
In a nuclear medicine diagnostic apparatus, it is therefore necessary to use a collimator in association with a radiation detector designed for the particular radiation source that is being detected. Therefore, it is necessary for a physician or medical technician to insure that the proper type of collimator is being utilized for the radiation source to be detected prior to conducting the diagnostic procedure. Changing a collimator mounted on the radiation detector of a nuclear medicine diagnostic apparatus for a different collimator inevitably occurs when a different radiation source is to be detected.
Conventional mounting of a collimator to radiation detector is accomplished by means of screws, bolts or the like. As can be appreciated, such conventional mounting techniques present problems since loosening and tightening the screws in order to securely position and mount a collimator to a radiation detector is fairly troublesome and time-consuming.
The present invention solves such a problem by providing a mounting mechanism for mounting the collimator on a radiation detector in a nuclear medicine diagnostic apparatus which is both easy to manipulate while yet insuring proper positioning of the collimator on the radiation detector. Thus, in accordance with the present invention, mounting pins having a head portion are preferably provided in association with the radiation detector while a pair of claw members are defined on the collimator. An entrance aperture is provided at the forward end of the claw members and is sized and configured so as to accept the head portion of the mounting pin therein. Accordingly, the mounting mechanism of the present invention permits simplified mounting of a collimator to a radiation detector for a nuclear medicine diagnostic apparatus by capturing the claw members in a mounting space established between the head portion of the mounting pin and the radiation detector.
Preferably, the claw member is biased into forcible engagement with the head portion of the mounting pin when the collimator is in its mounted position so as to prevent play between the collimator and the mounting pin. In one embodiment of the present invention, this bias force is established by a boss member reciprocally moveable within a recessed surface defined in the radiation detector and biased in a direction to forcibly engage the collimator which in turn is forced against the head portion of the mounting pin. A second embodiment of the present invention contemplates that a recessed guide surface is defined in the collimator and establishes two different depth levels such that the boss member will be displaced against the bias force of a spring to similarly urge the collimator and claw members against the head portion of the mounting pins.
A spring-loaded detent member is also provided in accordance with the present invention so as to not only establish the mounted position of the collimator relative to the radiation detector but to also removeably lock the collimator in its mounted position. Like the boss member described above, the detent member of the present invention is moveable within a recess and enters a locking aperture when the collimator reaches its mounted position.
While the various structures of the present invention have been briefly described above and will be described in more detail below as being associated with either the collimator or the radiation detector, the reader should appreciate that the opposite structural arrangements could also be provided without destroying the functioning of the present invention. That is, for example, the mounting pins could be provided on the collimator with the claw members provided with the radiation detector.
Other objects and advantages of the present invention will become more clear after careful consideration is given to the detailed description of the preferred exemplary embodiments thereof which follow.